Vercingetorix has the magic potion to fight off economic blues

If you’ve read the Asterix comic books, you’ll know that the Gauls gave the Romans a torrid time in years immediately BC. Characters Asterix and Obelix are fictional, but they were inspired by famous historic Gallic resistance to Julius Caesar’s imperialism – and the leader of that resistance was one Vercingetorix.

This young chieftain managed the daunting task of uniting the notoriously quarrelsome Gallic tribes of what is now part of France. This unified force was the “magic potion” that got the Gauls to kick Caesar’s ass – just as Asterix does in the comics. At the Battle of Gergova in 52BC, several thousand Romans were slaughtered and the dastardly colonialists were forced to withdraw their legions – for a while.

Vercingetorix eventually surrendered to Caesar – saving the lives of his men – and was jailed for five years. Then he was paraded through the streets of Rome, garroted and beheaded.

Vercingetorix the hero, leading sire

To this day, Vercingetorix is a hero in France, with statues of him gracing some towns and a recently discovered asteroid bearing his name. And a horse bred in South Africa was named after him.

Sometime star racer Vercingetorix is now a stallion – and a damn fine one.

Rival sires Gimmethegreenlight and Trippi of Drakenstein Stud might have collected all the headlines last week, following their starring roles at the Equus Awards ceremony, but this week Vercingetorix fought his way into the picture, with a typical Gallic flair, at the 2023 BSA August Two Year Old Sale.

The former national champion was the leading sire, by both aggregate and average price, with 12 lots selling for a total of R7.3-million. His average was R608,333.

By comparison, newly crowned 2023 Equus champ Gimmethegreenlight averaged R585,000 from the R5.8-million paid for his 10 lots.

Vercingetorix also provided the sales topper, a filly called Lucrative from Maine Chance Farms who fetched R1.4-million. Out of the Querari mare La Collossa, with lots of elite German equine blood, she was bought by agent Jane Thomas.

Earlier this year, Vercingetorix also topped the tables at both the 2023 National Yearling Sale and the KZN Yearling Sale.

August Two Year Old auction

The August Two Year Old auction in Germiston at the weekend was a big success all round – and another example of how thoroughbred horse sales often defy prevailing economic conditions.

The sale aggregate rose from R48,975,000 in 2022 to R59,690,000 this year (a 23% increase), with the average going from R220,608 to R244,631, and the median price going from R140,000 to R160,000.

Does this mean wealthy horse buyers are not feeling the pinch like most of us? Or that they are more optimistic about South Africa’s economic performance in the future? Nobody’s saying.

One thing is clear, however. The future of the local racing industry itself looks a lot brighter than it did a couple of years ago. The resurrection of various regional operators and a likely imminent lifting of EU equine export restrictions portend sunnier times.

Yet the industry is clearly not blind to an ugly reality that surrounds it: the third highest price paid was for a colt named Corrupt – bought by leading owner Lawrence Wernars from Mary Slack’s Wilgerbosdrift Stud for R1.2-million.